Wildlife Habitat

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT WILDLIFE HABITAT - PAGE 2

By RICHARD F. BELISLE / Staff Writer, Waynesboro photo: RIC DUGAN / staff photographer WAYNESBORO, Pa. - Gregory Baker has found a niche balancing woodlot owners' desire to make money with their timber against protecting wildlife that make the owners' trees their home. Baker, 43, owns Ridge and Valley Forestry at 219 W. Main St. in Waynesboro, a one-man show that operates out of a small office behind an apartment building. Baker, a Waynesboro native, has been in business for 14 years.

WAYNESBORO, Pa. -- How much do 2,568 acres of forest cost in southern Pennsylvania? $12.5 million and a lot of heart. When the property known as Glatfelter Tree Farm No. 1 became available for sale, the pleas of area residents prompted The Conservation Fund to spend the millions needed to purchase it on March 25. Now, several Adams County, Pa., organizations are working together to find the money needed to pay back The Conservation Fund and...

It's time to apply for funds in two conservation programs available in Washington County, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Services said. They are the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP). For EQIP, the first signup has begun and continues through Jan. 20, 2006. The second signup period is from Feb. 5 to 24. This USDA program is designed to help agricultural landowners with agricultural waste management systems, integrated crop management, pastureland management, cropland erosion control practices and water quality protection practices.

RANSON, W.Va. - A sign-up period for the first 1999 Environmental Quality Incentives Program ranking period will be from Monday, Nov. 2, through Friday, Nov. 13, at the USDA Service Center in Ranson. Although sign-ups are taken year-round, it is advantageous to be in the first ranking period because funds are limited. Sign-up for the Conservation Reserve and Wildlife Habitat Incentive programs will also be taken at that time.

Maryland farmers and other landowners can apply now for conservation funding through USDA's Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP). If interested, contact the local Natural Resources Conservaton Service or Soil Conservation District office at 1260 Maryland Ave., Suite 101, in Hagerstown for more info. Applications for the first ranking period will be taken up to Dec. 15. This program provides cost-share reimbursement to farmers and landowners who plant grassland habitat or restore riparian buffers, streambanks, and wetlands for wildlife habitat.

High school students with an interest in natural resources are encouraged to apply now for the July 20-26 Natural Resources Careers Conference at the Hickory Environmental Center in Garrett County. The Washington County Forestry Board encourages any local high school student with an interest in natural resources to apply. Each county is able to sponsor as many as two students with a scholarship to attend the conference at no cost. Student spaces are limited, and the deadline for applications is near.

High school students with an interest in natural resources are encouraged to apply now for the July 20-26 Natural Resources Careers Conference at the Hickory Environmental Center in Garrett County. The Washington County Forestry Board encourages any local high school student with an interest in natural resources to apply. Each county is able to sponsor as many as two students with a scholarship to attend the conference at no cost. Student spaces are limited, and the deadline for applications is near.

The Washington County Forestry Board will sponsor a half-day tour of a working tree farm to provide rural landowners with effective ideas in practice on managing their property. The event will be held from 9 a.m. until noon Saturday, May 12, at the Grove Farm, 15717 Spade Road, Hagerstown. Participants will have a firsthand opportunity to observe multiple tree plantings, the creation of wildlife habitat, the effects of timber harvests and forest succession in action. They will learn about promoting water quality, conservation and easement programs, and forest management and taxation.

Farm quail habitat restored in W.Va. By RICHARD F. BELISLE / Staff Writer, Waynesboro SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - Martha Knott Putz remembers growing up at Willow Well, her family's 215-acre farm on Molers Crossroads, and the call of the bobwhite quail that whistled across the fields. She also remembers when the quails' calls could no longer be heard. "We stopped seeing them in the early 1980s," Putz said. "There were a lot of quail around before then. My father and his friends used to hunt them.